Whale Migration
All about Whale Migration
Whale migration is one of the most interesting characteristics of the behavior of whales. Every year, Humpback Whales make their migration from the waters of the Arctic to the Baja Peninsula, off the Southern California/Mexico border. This is a round trip of roughly 12,500 miles. Whales migrate to the same areas each year.
Whale migration is tracked with satellite technology. Scientists use crossbows to shoot a little radio transmitter into the back of the whale. The transmitter is very small, approximately the size of a cigar, and the whale’s blubber protects him from feeling it. Sometimes whale migration can be tracked by watching from above, as every type of whale has specific tail markings.
Most of the time whale migration is based on reproductive and feeding cycles. Whales travel to warmer waters to breed and to cooler waters to feed. Some whales spend three months in warm waters and three months in cold waters, with the other six months spent traveling. While some whales, like the Humpback, have very particular migration patterns and travel in groups, others like the Sperm Whale have no set routes.
Female whales mate in warm waters in the winter and then give birth the following year after they have returned to the warmer temperatures. They use the time spent in the cold waters of the northern hemisphere to fill up on food and store the energy that will be necessary to take care of the baby whale, known as a calf. Many whale calves spend the entire first year of their lives with their mother and most of that time is spent nursing. Baby blue whales average fifteen feet but can be as large as twenty-five feet at birth, and they can drink fifty gallons of milk a day. They grow on average fifteen feet a month.
Southern Right Whales spend their winter and spring in the warm waters off the coasts of Africa, South America, Australia and New Zealand. Here they mate and calve. Whale migration for the Southern Right means a long trip to the cold waters off Antarctica for summer feeding.
The Western Northern Pacific Whale spends the winter in the warm waters around Japan and Korea, and then migrates to the northern Okhotsk Sea to feed during the summer months. The Eastern Northern Pacific Whale makes the same journey as the Humpback Whale, feeding in the north near Alaska in the summer and wintering near Baja, California.
Blue Whales also mate and give birth in tropical waters and then migrate to the waters of the Arctic. Females feed for three to four months in the cool summer waters, and eat virtually nothing during their four months migrating to the south. They deliver one calf, which at birth weighs around 2-½ tons and is twenty feet long.